Sound & Light on Parliament Hill

[Manfred M]

My wife, daughter and I had some errands to run downtown Ottawa this afternoon, so we stopped by on Parliament Hill to watch the Sound & Light show. With all the Christmas shoppers out, it was extremely busy and not ideal for photography.

I had the tripod and camera along, as well as the f/3.5 24mm PC-E lens along to take some test shots. I plan to return in a week's time when I know there will be less people out and about. Here is one of my test shots.







These are the Canadian Parliament Building (House of Commons, Senate and Peace Tower). A bit more snow would have been great. Exposure of 1/8th sec. f/3.5 at ISO 800. With an action show, I could not shoot with as slow a shutter speed as I could in past where the display was static.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful. I adore your images of these types of night scenes. Gorgeous colours. I love the reflections of trees seen on the building.

[Shadowman]

Interesting shot, was that blue color completely flooding the face of the building?

[Manfred M]

Interesting shot, was that blue color completely flooding the face of the building?

Yes it was. From a shooting standpoint, the projected image on the building changed quite quickly over time. This shot was taken a couple of minutes after the first one and the lighting was completely different.

[Donald]

I plan to return in a week's time when I know there will be less people out and about.

Although having the people about gives it a human dimension that is appealing.

[Manfred M]

Although having the people about gives it a human dimension that is appealing.

Agreed. It's the positioning of the people that I would like to control. There were over 100 people standing just behind where I was shooting from, so I could not position the camera where I wanted to.

I've shot there before on Dec 25 and 26 and the number of folks that are out on those days is more workable, especially if I can stack a number of shots and do some selected erasing / blending of layers. I suspect January 1 might be another possible day as well, but there a New Year's celebrations the night before at the location and I suspect things might be messier than I would want it to be, but if there is no snow on the ground, it may work out.

The other issue this year is that the display is dynamic, rather than static as it was in previous years, so I need to shoot with a much narrower aperture and higher ISO to get a reasonable image, so another problem to solve...

[Rebel]

Very nice shots Manfred.

[Polar01]

Really hope that I can get up this year.

Cheers: Allan

[Manfred M]

Really hope that I can get up this year.

Cheers: Allan

The sound and light show runs from 17:30 - 23:00 daily, until Jan 7, 2016. I would have liked it better with some snow on the ground. The war memorial was basically the same as other years and I did not check out the canal from the Laurier Av Bridge. I try to get out and shoot at night at the first two sites on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, as far fewer people are around and that makes photography a lot better. I suspect New Year's Day might be okay as well, but with the big celebrations the night before, I suspect the conditions might not be as good, even though they do a good job on the cleanup. I suspect all of the equipment / setups might not be down.

If you are coming up, let me know and we could meet up for a shoot and coffee afterwards. I will be busy / out of town over the next few weeks, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Manfred

[Wavelength]

Really awesome...treat to eyes

[SamRothstein]

Great photographic demonstration of the amazing light shows we can put on.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice and interesting shot Manfred

Yes it was. From a shooting standpoint, the projected image on the building changed quite quickly over time. This shot was taken a couple of minutes after the first one and the lighting was completely different.

[Cantab]

Yes it was. From a shooting standpoint, the projected image on the building changed quite quickly over time. This shot was taken a couple of minutes after the first one and the lighting was completely different.

Having seen these images, I'll never think of the Parliament Buildings in quite the same way again!

[just me]

W O W........I like it very much !!!!!!!

Griddi........

[Dave A]

Beautiful image Manfred. How long was your exposure?

Dave

[Manfred M]

Beautiful image Manfred. How long was your exposure?

Dave

ISO 800, f/3.5 (wide open). First shot 0.8 sec, second shot 0.4 sec according to the EXIF data.

[Kaye Leggett]

Lovely shots - I prefer the golds rather than the blues, but that is purely personal preference. I had the opportunity to photograph something similar at Waddesdon Manor which I showed here Waddesdon Manor - I went for the longer exposure, even though the lights were dynamic which madethe figures ghostly - maybe worth a try if your people move ?
However, that said - I don't think your people detract from the images.

[IzzieK]

I too prefer the second one without all those blues in the first one...and that is a good advice, Kaye...I might try that...